Google AdWords has a rather tight rule banning the selling of hard liquor online, like vodka or whiskey, but does allow AdWords advertisers to run ads for wine and beer (even though in some states like Maryland the parcel shipping of any alcohol is illegal).
Frank Watson over at Search Engine Watch points out however, that Google Products (Shopping / Froogle) is letting online hard liquor vendors list different liquor products in their feeds, and Google is serving their mixed drinks within the organic search results, in the blended addition of Google Shopping, WITH a quick link to order via Google Checkout.
A conflict of interest here? You betcha!
Frank writes :
One hopes this was an oversight, since there are none for rum or gin as yet. Maybe vodka is just such a good checkout seller that it has reached some number where it automatically gets the Checkout promo.
Hopefully someone at Google will publicly address this one. Right now I guess every vodka seller is signing up for a Google Checkout account. Not bad mistake if it generates new shopping cart customers.
Yeah, let’s hope that this is a mistake because it makes little sense.
- By banning ads for liquor (which TV did until a short time ago) Google is cutting a major revenue source from AdWords
- Google Shopping however allows merchants to sell liquor via their feed program.
- Instead of Google serving AdWords ads which are labeled as Advertising, they serve Shopping results, which are not really labeled as so
- Google is making a small percentage in Checkout sales, when they could be double dipping in AdWords click fees AND Checkout fees
Had I realized that liquor ads were banned in AdWords, I would’ve taken screenshots of all the times I’ve seen absinthe and whisky ads. I once webmastered a domain with “bourbon” in the URL, and until AdSense banned it, it would serve up nothing but ads for whisky, absinthe, and rehab.
Well, my first comment borked and I lost everything, so I’ll leave it to this. These aren’t ads. And http://sphinn.com/story/46093#c41904 explains more about it.
Right Danny arent those just from Google Base?
I realize that those aren’t ads. What I was saying was that I’m sure I’ve seen liquor ads, and on my own site at that.